Endangered sea turtle nest found at Galveston Island State Park for the first time in a decade – Houston Public Media

A nest of endangered sea turtle eggs was discovered on the beachside of Galveston Island State Park last week — the first nest discovered at the park in over a decade.

The nest contained 107 eggs laid by a Kemp's Ridley sea turtle, which is likely one of the most endangered sea turtle species on the earth.

This was the first nest discovered at Galveston Island State Park since 2012, in keeping with Christopher Marshall, a professor of Marine Biology at Texas A&M and director for the Gulf Center for Sea Turtle Research.

Once the nest was discovered, it was brought to an incubation facility at Padre Island National Seashore, Marshall mentioned.

“Each egg matters,” Marshall mentioned. "A whole lot of nesting habitat for the Kemp's Ridley has been misplaced to storms, high tide and predation, which is why you will need to transport these nests to an setting where they've the most effective likelihood for survival into maturity."

The species was almost misplaced in the Nineteen Eighties until intensive conservation efforts were carried out on nesting beaches and through fisheries management, in line with NOAA Fisheries. Bycatch — the intentional capture of non-target species while fishing — continues to be the most important menace going through Kemp's Ridley sea turtles.

Marshall mentioned the typical nesting season for the Kemp's Ridley sea turtle runs between April 1 and July 15. He urged anybody who finds a nest to stay at the very least 60 toes away and to name the Sea Turtle hotline at 1-866-TURTLE-5.

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